Sushi

If a chef feels the need to cook a fish before he serves it to you, you should ask him why he doesn't get fresher fish. There are few foods that can match fresh, cold, raw, dead fish. Mmmmmm......

If the idea of raw fish scares you, most places will have sushi made with cooked shrimp, smoked salmon, cooked eggs, or vegetarian rolls. Try those first, then move on to the real thing when you're ready.

Shiro's

The best sushi in the Seattle area. Ever see Jiro Dreams of Sushi? Shiro was Jiro's apprentice. Hard to get a table or a seat at the bar. Everything is amazing, but the tamago is the Platonic ideal of tamago; anything else is just a pale shadow in comparison.

Izumi

The best pure sushi on the east side of the Seattle area. Not the best atmosphere and not the best service (unless you sit at the bar and order from the chef), but relatively low prices and large portions. The head chef speaks fluent Hebrew. Seriously.

Nishino

The best atmosphere and service in the Seattle area. They also have a lot of interesting "new" dishes and their pure sushi is very close to as good as Izumi. A bit more expensive though, and hard to get a seat during peak times.

Oto Sushi

Very good sushi with lots of variety (tons of rolls, many types of salmon, lots of other dishes). Good combination of traditional sushi and non-traditional. They have a location in downtown Redmond, and are easily the best sushi place in Redmond.

Umi Sake

Good sushi, but amazing and creative rolls. The rolls are huge and they have an amazing selection. Not traditional sushi at all, but a great place anyway. Also open very late (even until 2:00am on some nights).

Rikki Rikki, Ginza, etc.

Not quite at the level of Izumi and Nishino, but very good. There are plenty of other sushi places as good as this around the Seattle area, but you'll usually want to go to one of the above if you can.

I Love Sushi

Good quality, multiple locations, plenty of seating. Not the best, but certainly worth going to. A perfect example of a decent mid-range sushi place, of which there are too many to even count in the Seattle area.

Blue C Sushi

Average quality, multiple locations, plenty of seating. The real reason to go here is the conveyor belt of sushi, which often means you can have a full meal in 15-20 minutes. Cheaper than most other places too.

Sushi Land

Not great sushi, but not too bad and dirt cheap. Better than any super-market sushi except for Whole Foods. The best of the low-end sushi places.